Forensic Assessment
What the domain tests
Forensic assessment asks you to distinguish clinical from forensic roles and to match the instrument to the legal question. Know the major competency and insanity standards: Dusky v. United States (1960) for competency to stand trial (factual and rational understanding of proceedings plus ability to consult with counsel), and the M'Naghten, ALI/Model Penal Code, and Durham standards for criminal responsibility. Know that competency is a present-state question and sanity is a retrospective one-a classic trap.
Instruments to know
Be able to name and characterize the core tools: the MacArthur Competence Assessment Tool (MacCAT-CA for criminal, MacCAT-T for treatment), the Evaluation of Competency to Stand Trial–Revised (ECST-R), the Rogers Criminal Responsibility Assessment Scales (RCRAS), the Hare Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R), the Static-99R and STABLE-2007/ACUTE-2007 for sexual recidivism, and violence risk tools such as the HCR-20 and VRAG. Know that actuarials estimate group base rates and do not yield individual certainties.
Traps
Questions often test the limits of instruments: the PCL-R measures psychopathy, not dangerousness; the MMPI-2-RF and PAI are broad personality measures with validity scales but are not forensic answer keys. Watch for malingering questions-use the SIRS-2, TOMM, or Validity Indicator Profile, and remember that feigning must be distinguished from genuine impairment. Also watch base-rate neglect and the error of treating a risk category as a prediction.
Worked rule of thumb
When a question asks which evaluation is appropriate, identify the legal question first: present capacity (competency, treatment consent), retrospective mental state (sanity, mens rea), or future risk (sentencing, civil commitment). The legal question dictates the instrument and the report's structure. Report to the retaining attorney, not the evaluee; state limits of confidentiality up front.